30 Days Out, Nov. 2025 #2: Asheville Jazz Orchestra, JackTown Ramblers, Artimus Pyle Band, Eilen Jewell
Three of the four acts spotlighted in this roundup of live music in the coming 30 days are local acts. Top-quality local acts, mind you. There’s big band jazz, bluegrass and Southern rock. And a star of the Americana scene comes to town. Check ‘em out.
Artist: Asheville Jazz Orchestra
Venue: White Horse
Date: Sunday, Nov. 23, 7:30 p.m.
Door: $22 suggested (Pay What You Can)
Big band jazz is alive and well in the third decade of the 21st century. Who’dve thought!? These musicians do it with style, maintaining the classic approach yet never feeling stale. The way to experience this music is live onstage; here’s your chance. Because the individual players are so in-demand and busy, live dates are somewhart infrequent. Don’t miss this one.
Artist: JackTown Ramblers
Venue: Highland Brewing
Date: Friday, Nov. 28, 1 p.m.
Door: $free
The JackTown Ramblers combine gypsy jazz and bluegrass, and they make it work, with superb musicianship. In early 2020 I wrote a feature on this unique band, but – thanks, Covid – the relevant show was canceled, and the story didn’t run until many months later. Read more about ‘em now, here.
Artist: Artimus Pyle Band
Venue: Wortham Center
Date: Friday, Nov. 28, 8 p.m.
Door: $44
While there’s a band calling itself Lynyrd Skynyrd touring today, exactly zero members of that lineup played on any records released during the group’s heyday (1973-77) Pyle, on the other hand, was the drummer on three of the classic-era five. His group pays tribute to what he pointedly calls “Ronnie Van Zant’s Lynyrd Skynyrd.”
Artist: Eilen Jewell
Venue: Grey Eagle
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 10, 8 p.m.
Door: $24.60
Nominally working within the Americana genre, Idaho-born singer-songwriter Eilen Jewell makes music that’s too expansive for labels. Across her impressively varied career, she has creatively explored honky-tonk, folk-rock, classic-styled country, a kind of bluegrass-meets-punk sound that leaves similar traffickers in the dust, and subdued singer-songwriter fare.
See you at the shows!
About the Author
Bill Kopp
With a background in marketing and advertising, Bill Kopp got his professional start writing for Trouser Press. After a stint as Editor-in-chief for a national music magazine, Bill launched Musoscribe in 2009, and has published new content every business day since then (and every single day for several years). The more than 5000 interviews, essays, and reviews on Musoscribe reflect Bill's keen interest in American musical forms, most notably rock, jazz, and soul. His work features a special emphasis on reissues and vinyl. Bill's work also appears in many other outlets both online and in print. He regularly hosts lecture/discussions on artists and albums of historical importance (including monthly events Music to Your Ears and Music Movie Mondays), and is a frequent guest on music-focused radio programs and podcasts. In Spring 2023 he taught a history of Rock 'n' Roll at UNC Asheville's College for Seniors. He also researches and authors liner notes for album reissues -- some 40 to date -- and co-produced a reissue of jazz legend Julian "Cannonball" Adderley's final album. His first book, Reinventing Pink Floyd: From Syd Barrett to The Dark Side of the Moon was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2018, and in paperback in 2019. His second book, Disturbing the Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave, was published in 2021 by HoZac Books. His third book, What's the Big Idea: 30 Great Concept Albums is available now. Read even more about him here.